ST. PAUL'S CHURCH.

Evening Star, Issue 16987, 8 March 1919, Page 9

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH.

TO THE EmTOK. Sir, —Whoever informed yon that the late Yen. Archdeacon Fenton was not the first vicar of St. Paul's Church, Dunedin, was quite wrong. 2\lr Fenton preceded Mr Edwards by several years. A reference to Dr Hocken's ' Contributions to the Early History of New Zealand' reveals that' on 15th July, 1854, a meeting of members of the Church of England was held, at which the chair was taken by Rev. J. A. Fenton, M.A., and that it resulted in steps being taken to build a church. The same ' Contributions ' also tell us that Mr Fenton "retired" in November, 1858. In the interval he was the incumbent of St. Paul's, though I do not think he was styled the "vicar." Trie St. Paul's of those days was a wooden building erected on the present line of Cumberland street near where it crosses High street. Mr Ed words followed Mr Fenton there. He certainly was the first incumbent of the later church that was built on the site of the cathedral in Stuart street, but that was a second St. Paul's. If my recollection of the article that recently appeared in your columns is correct, the writer seems not to have known of the first St. Paul's Church, situated a little behind the courthouse, but it appears in photographs of Old Dunedin, and can be seen in the post-card series published several years ago. I attended that church, and one of my sisters was married in it in 1862.—1 am, 'etc, Herbert Webb. March 7.